1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to rolling mills producing long products such as rods and bars, and is concerned in particular with the provision of an improved modular mill.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Examples of known modular mills are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,595,083 and 6,053,022. These mills employ multiple motors driving gear boxes detachably coupled to successive rolling units. The rolling units each include roll stands with oval and round roll passes, and are interchangeable and rapidly shiftable onto and off of the mill pass line to thereby accommodate the single family rolling of progressively larger product sizes, as well as thermomechanical rolling at reduced temperatures. Although mechanically sound and advantageously flexible, as compared to block type mills, such modular arrangements are relatively complex and expensive, both to purchase and subsequently to maintain.
As disclose in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/403,671, it is also known to provide a modular rolling mill having successively arranged rolling units which are detachably coupled to gear units driven by a line shaft powered by a single motor. This arrangement also efficiently accommodates the single family rolling of progressively larger products and is less complicated and expensive than modular mills driven by multiple motors. However, it is not readily adaptable to thermomechanical rolling, which requires the introduction of relatively drastic cooling between selected rolling units.
The objective of the present invention is to provide an improved modular mill that is readily adaptable both to the single family rolling of progressively larger products, and to the introduction of interstand cooling when subjecting products to thermomechanical rolling.